


West By More Wests

by Tromperie



Category: Our Fair City (Podcast), Re-Animator (Movies)
Genre: Do the timelines match who even knows, Gen, Herbert is a disaster in every universe, M/M, Pining, Pre-EVERYTHING, Pre-Slash, Science Family, Screenplay/Script Format, Sssshhh let me live my lost ot3 dreams, nobody has learned how to use their words yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-31 00:32:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19414756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tromperie/pseuds/Tromperie
Summary: A confluence of SCIENCE (when is it ever otherwise) leaves Dan and Herbert in a strange new place, among strange but friendly people. Both are interested, for their own reasons, in the quite articulate reanimated corpse currently offering them tea and what the revelation might mean for their own regrets.





	West By More Wests

**Author's Note:**

> This is an older fic being moved over for posterity. I've always rather liked it.
> 
> Takes place after the first Re-Animator film and between seasons 4 and 5 of OFC.

**NARRATOR**

Infection. Dear Policies, it’s true that the benevolent eye of the company watches over us for all our days. But it is equally important that we do our part, in the small hours of our daily goings on, to stay vigilant. We all remember the story of Policy 6793 (“a danger to you and me,” as Archibald Funnypants’ catchy slogan went), who cut herself on an unauthorized excursion through a decommissioned tunnel. Who, rather than taking responsibility for flaunting company wisdom, selfishly hid her injury, costing thousands in local medical supplies before her policy was terminated. Her sector was forced to make do with its remaining allocated supplies in the face of a deadly Mold outbreak. By the time new medical officers were able to be deployed…well. Let us take a lesson from 6793. Only a watchful, obedient eye can keep you safe from the ravages of the outside world. And if you find yourself outside the reach of Hartlife’s protection, be warned. Danger can enter through the smallest, most innocuous tear.

**DAN CAIN**

Where the hell – what did you DO?

**YOUNG HERBERT WEST**

Ventured entirely outside my field of study, apparently. 

We seem to be underground.

**DAN**

How can you be so calm about this?

**WEST**

What alternative would you suggest? We both scream ourselves hoarse until the local predators come to finish us off?

_[SFX: NEARBY GROWLING]_

**WEST**

…Ah.

**DAN**

Get ready, it’s –

_[THE GROWLING STOPS, REPLACED BY WET CHEWING SOUNDS. FOOTSTEPS APPROACH]_

**DR EMILY CALIGARI**

Stand back!

_[THE GROWLS RISE TO A CRESCENDO – AND STOP, FROZEN OVER BY CALIGARI’S GUN]_

**CALIGARI**

What the HELL are you policies doing all the way out here?

**DAN**

Well-

**WEST**

Is there no safer place we could be having this discussion?

**CALIGARI**

…good point. Follow me.

[BEAT]

AHEAD of me.

**NARRATOR**

The trio treks to the reinforced steel sanctuary of the Doctor Moro Memorial House and Museum, mold defrosting and roaring with ceaseless, carnivorous hunger in their wake.

**CALIGARI**

WEST! Open the door!

**DAN**

[SOTTO VOCE] Did she say –

_[SFX: THE DOOR OPENS]_

**ANDREW SNIDGE**

Dr Caligari! We thought you might not be coming since you’re normally not so late and – Who’re they?

**CALIGARI**

An unexpected pest problem.

**HERBERT WEST**

[FROM FURTHER IN] Andrew? Is it her? Should I get a second scraping from the Meat Wall?

**ANDREW**

Uh….Yeah, I think that might be a good idea.

**ANDREW**

Did you wanna come in…or…?

**DAN**

YES, I think I can hear more of that thing out there and –

**CALIGARI**

Hold it. You’re not going anywhere until I figure out if you’re a threat.

**DAN**

You’ve already got a gun! We can’t do this inside?

**WEST**

Yes, excellent plan. Show us your stronghold and THEN start the interrogation.

_[SFX: THE FREEZE RAY HUMS, COCKED]_

**CALIGARI**

An easy problem to remedy. Names. Policy numbers. Now.

**DAN**

O-okay, let’s all calm down. My name’s Dan Cain. I don’t know what you mean by policy numbers-

**CALIGARI**

Did you come from the outside? But that’s impossible, nobody’s managed that since West!

**WEST**

You don’t say.

**CALIGARI**

What about you?

**DAN**

This is my roommate –

**WEST**

Doctor Herbert West

**CALIGARI**

_WHAT_

**HERBERT**

[ENTERING] Emily, I know you’re still a bit leery of all that “reanimated army” business but I keep telling you – who have we here?

**CALIGARI**

Someone is going to start providing concise, useful answers, or I’m going to start firing and figure out this whole blasted thing later. West –

**HERBERT/WEST**

Yes?

**CALIGARI**

Have you been experimenting with cloning?

**HERBERT**

Oh, not for AGES. Actually, that really takes me back. I was –

**CALIGARI**

ENOUGH. So if it’s not a clone, then what the hell is this?

**HERBERT**

[CONSIDERING] Hmm. Well, I suppose it’s possible. I can see a touch of resemblance…oh, there, about the ears. Though my eyes haven’t been that color in…well, at least since Synecdoche. And the torso…this would be QUITE an old sample.

**WEST**

Are you done?

**HERBERT**

Oh, very nearly –

**ELIZABETH**

Herbert? Is everything alright?

**HERBERT**

BETTER!

[TO CALIGARI ET AL]

Come in, come in. No sense discussing potential paradoxes on an empty stomach.

_[CALIGARI, HOWEVER, IS IN NO MOOD TO BROOK MORE CHALLENGES TO HER AUTHORITY; WE ARE USHERED QUITE BRUSQUELY TO THE DINING ROOM, WHERE PLATES AND FOOD (AND ELIZABETH AND DR. MORO) ARE ALREADY ASSEMBLED]_

**HERBERT**

ARKHAM, you say? My goodness, that takes me back. I haven’t seen Arkham since – well, since Massachusetts was still part of the mainland!

**ANDREW**

Did you come here across the Wastes, like our Dr. West?

**ELIZABETH**

You don’t exactly look equipped for it…

**DAN**

We know as much as you do. We were down in the l – the basement.

**WEST**

Worried we’ll be arrested here?

**DAN**

And all of a sudden we were standing in some cold, dark tunnel. Are we…is all of this underground?

**CALIGARI**

Of course it is. The surface hasn’t been sustainably habitable in decades.

**MORO**

ACTUALLY, IT HAS BEEN CLOSER TO A CENTURY.

**ANDREW**

What were you working on? Like, some kind of machine that could’ve blown up and thrown you through time?

**WEST**

Hardly. Our work –

**DAN**

No. No, I don’t think it was anything we did.

**HERBERT**

Yes, I can’t say I recall any components of reanimation that would result in that kind of outcome.

**DAN**

[CHOKING] What?

**WEST**

Really, Dan. It stands to reason, doesn’t it? If this man is claiming to be me, of course he’d know about our work.

[TO HERBERT] The goal is the creation of a single conscious lifeform form using the life inherent in ideal, disparate pieces.

**ANDREW**

Oh! So just like –

**ELIZABETH**

Boys, please. Not during dinner.

**WEST**

Please, as if –

**HERBERT**

Quite right, of course. Would anyone like more rolls?

**WEST**

[DISGUSTED SNORT]

**DAN**

You have any that are less…alive?

_[SFX: THE CLATTER OF SILVERWARE, A FADEOUT ON SOMEWHAT STILTED, IF WARM, CONVERSATION]_

**NARRATOR**

In the distant past, before the sheltering walls of Hartlife rose to embrace us all, it was said that to break bread with a stranger was to make them one’s fellow. We, of course, know that outsiders can be trusted with little more than our contempt, and the sharp end of a putrescible waste shovel. But it bears remembering that Doctor Herbert West is yet a stranger in our fair land, whose ways risk bringing disaster upon us all. What consequences await, dear listeners, for the foolish sheltering of this unknown, unwashed duo?

**ANDREW**

So…this is the lab.

**WEST**

Hm. Not as primitive as I was expecting, given the rest of the place. What is the point of the brains?

**CALIGARI**

[FROM THE NEXT ROOM] SNIDGE, DON’T LET HIM TOUCH ANYTHING

**ANDREW**

Oh, those are Dr. Caligari’s. I think she’s saving them or something.

**WEST**

What a waste. So, where is it?

**ANDREW**

Where is what?

**WEST**

I assume my supposed counterpart was doing some kind of work with temporal fields. A resonator for crossing dimensions? Ugh, my idiot cousin would have a field day with all of this.

**ANDREW**

We weren’t doing anything like that.

**HERBERT**

Not that I didn’t take my fair crack at it back in the day.

_[SFX: SHUFFLING – WEST OVERTURNS A STOOL IN SURPRISE AT HIS COUNTERPART’S SUDDEN APPEARANCE]_

**HERBERT**

The parts might still be around here somewhere – I had such a sentimental streak about those early forays into the full breadth of science.

**ANDREW**

You can cross DIMENSIONS? We could – you mean we could go somewhere else? Like…without Hartlife?

**HERBERT**

[NOT UNKINDLY] I’m afraid not, my boy. Oh, we could certainly try. But the buggers in between have a nasty way of seeing that you arrive with rather fewer internal bits than you need, even if you pack extra. Poor Ricardo…

**WEST**

In all cases or only unknown destinations?

**HERBERT**

Ah, you’re wondering if I could send you “back.”

**WEST**

If your machine can be made specific enough. Or if there’s some specific agent to be found in a tissue sample from the dimension in question.

**HERBERT**

A sort of cellular tracking device. Fascinating.

**WEST**

We can start with mine. Do you have –

**HERBERT**

Above the irradiated meatwall cultures.

**ANDREW**

So, should I…?

_[THE HERBERTS WEST ARE ALREADY WELL INTO THEIR RAPPORT, TALKING INDISTINGUISHABLE THEORIES OVER ONE ANOTHER AND THE OCCASIONALLY DIRE CRASH OF CAPITAL-S SCIENCE]_

**ANDREW**

…I’ll just go.

**NARRATOR**

Rejected, even if only temporarily, by the scientific pursuits that have proved his succor since that most fateful day of his short life, young Andrew Snidge returns to the legendary sitting room of the legendary Dr. Moro, to find the household’s other guests engaged in more…genteel conversation.

**MORO**

IS SOMETHING THE MATTER, ANDREW

**ANDREW**

No, it’s just – it’s kinda weird, right? They’re getting along really well.

**DAN**

Herbert’s getting along with someone? I’ll believe it when I see it.

**ANDREW**

Well, they’re right over in –

**DAN**

I’m kidding. I believe you. It’s just…I don’t think I’ve seen him talk to anyone he didn’t have to since I met him. And even then it was through gritted teeth. I should’ve known he’d get along best with himself.

**ELIZABETH**

Not you?

**DAN**

Ha! No, I’m more of a…heavy lifting sort of guy. I think he just wants me around out of habit. And to keep the cops from coming around.

**CALIGARI**

Why bother staying, if you’re so miserable?

**DAN**

I’m not – I was getting ready to….it’s complicated.

**CALIGARI**

Is this the kind of soap opera that’s going to make the rest of our lives miserable? A little crush that might end in, say, a Woken apocalypse?

**ELIZABETH**

Really, Emily?

**CALIGARI**

Sorry, was I supposed to just glaze over the deaths of all my subordinates?

**ELIZABETH**

Herbert and I are not – do you even realize how ridiculous this conversation is? We’re grown adults!

**CALIGARI**

Almost as ridiculous as murdering dozens of civilians just to get back your pet project, yes.

**ELIZABETH**

EMILY

**CALIGARI**

[SIGH] I know. He’s under control now. He did his part in saving the city – you both did. And blaming you won’t bring them back.

**DAN**

Not that it helps when the chips are down, huh

**CALIGARI**

I’m sorry, what makes you think YOU-

**DAN**

“The Miskatonic Massacre.”

**CALIGARI**

So, West’s screw-ups are a universal constant.

**DAN**

He didn’t start it. He barely survived it. Just one casualty, if you don’t count all the reanimated corpses.

**CALIGARI**

Somebody you knew, I take it

**DAN**

…my fiancée

**CALIGARI**

And you’re still HELPING him?

**DAN**

What do I have left if I don’t? Maybe that’s why I let him convince me he could bring her back. Ha ha. Like he’s ever been able to make anything but drooling zombies.

**ANDREW**

What’s a “zombie?”

**DAN**

Huh? I thought you said – forget it.

Maybe it’s better that we’re here. It’s as good as a sign to start over.

_[SFX: A CLOCK CHIMES]_

**CALIGARI**

Ugh, I need to go. If I’m not there for the morning meeting the “temporary science helpers” will probably take that as a cue to start burning the place down.

[TO ELIZABETH]

Think you can manage two of them?

**ELIZABETH**

[SARCASM]

Of course. How many doomsday devices can two identical, monomaniacal scientists possibly create in twelve hours?

**CALIGARI**

…I’ll bring ammo

_[SFX: FOOTSTEPS, DOOR CLOSING]_

**ELIZABETH**

[TO DAN]

It’s getting late. I think there’s a spare room we can set you up in.

Andrew, would you check on Herbert, just in case there’s some miraculous chance of getting them out of there before tomorrow?

**ANDREW**

Sure, Mom

_[HE PEEKS AROUND THE CORNER IN QUESTION AND WE HEAR, RAPID-FIRE:]_

**HERBERT**

Mmm. No, I distinctly remember a great many setbacks – see, that was my favorite hand

**WEST**

Ah. Acid reaction?

**HERBERT**

_Very_ nasty

Do you suppose we’re creating some kind of new paradox even as we speak?

**WEST**

Well, clearly the only truly scientific approach would involve repeated trials.

**HERBERT**

I like the way you think.

**WEST**

Yes, I would hope so

**ANDREW**

[RETURNING]

Uh. I think they’re fine

**NARRATOR**

And so those touched by the meddling of that strange, dangerous mind, Dr. Herbert West, retired. But there was no such rest to be found in the refurnished, formerly legendary laboratories of Dr. Montgomery Moro. But even men so wholly dedicated to their pursuits cannot subsist on drive alone, forging their way blindly without even the helpful hand of an advisory oversight committee. As the night enters its darkest hours, talk in the laboratory begins to touch upon that need most odious to West the Younger: reliance on others of his human race.

**WEST**

That doesn’t explain how Dan and I ended up here. Clearly this thing hasn’t been used in any reasonably recent period.

**HERBERT**

Yes, had to set that one aside. Elizabeth hates anything that gets a little too, how did she put it, “likely to cause horrors which no person should know.” Which is ridiculous, because _I_ said –

**WEST**

If the experiment is viable, I don’t see why that should stop you.

**HERBERT**

Well…I promised.

A gentleman never goes back on his word.

**WEST**

A scientist never lets the uneducated and petty get in the way of progress. At least that Caligari woman showed a glimmer of intelligence.

**HERBERT**

There’s no cause to be rude.

Elizabeth has proven herself time and time again to be resourceful, intelligent, determined, and more than capable of striking unholy terror into the hearts of her advisories. All qualities of a scientist, whatever her formal training.

_[SILENCE, JUST LONG ENOUGH TO BE AWKWARD]_

**HERBERT**

Truthfully speaking, she might make a more capable assistant than young Andrew. But that would break the poor boy’s heart. Besides, enthusiasm is its own reward in an assistant. You know the feeling.

**WEST**

[HE DOES NOT]

Yes. I can see the appeal. Doctor –   
  


**HERBERT**

Call me – hmm. That does present a problem, doesn’t it.

**WEST**

What would you say to a partnership? I’m beginning to realize there are holes in my education, not to mention the things that could be accomplished by two minds of our caliber. Proceeding alone on my current experiment has proven…more difficult than I’d anticipated.

**HERBERT**

What about your assistant?

**WEST**

Dan has…other skills. Certainly more patience for bedside manner. He’s a gifted doctor.

**HERBERT**

But not a scientist.

**WEST**

A reliable partner.

_[SFX: SPARKS, AS WEST RETURNS TO WORK IN UNNATURAL EARNEST DISMANTLING THE RESONATOR]_

**WEST**

Hmmm

**HERBERT**

Find something unusual?

**WEST**

Engineering isn’t my field, but this still looks functional

**HERBERT**

Really? How….odd. Well. Since we have the time, why don’t I show you the isotope I’ve been working on.

**WEST**

[CHUCKLING]

Why not? But first-

_[SFX: A KNIFE ACROSS FLESH. WEST HISSES]_

**WEST**

Presumably we will need the tissue sample at some point.

**HERBERT**

You still have blood, too! Oh, my, that takes me back.

**WEST**

I assume you’re going to explain

**HERBERT**

With pleasure

**NARRATOR**

Not a doubling but a squaring of the menace that had only just, through the heroic diligence of Hartlife’s prodigal daughter, been contained from spreading its malpracticing menace. Oh, to think of the loyal policies who slept on through this night, blissfully ignorant of the terror that almost befell them. So cunning and quietly carried out was this plot, even those in the house of Moro wake without knowing its dangers.

**ELIZABETH**

_Dammit_. Of all the days for this to happen

**DAN**

Uh

**ELIZABETH**

Oh! Good morning, um,

**DAN**

Dan. You dropped your, uh

**ELIZABETH**

Yes. Actually, if you could grab that for me? The other one is kind of full.

**DAN**

I – look, you may be in shock. Just sit down, I’ll get something to staunch the…bleeding.

It isn’t bleeding. Holy…

**ELIZABETH**

Actually, if you could just get Herbert – my, uh, our – the tall one.

**DAN**

He did this?

**ELIZABETH**

I thought you’d already know.

**DAN**

I mean, Herbert’s…but nobody he’s ever brought back was like _you_.

**ELIZABETH**

“Like me.”

**DAN**

Talking. Not, uh, vomiting blood on themselves. Or dangerously violent. Human.

**ELIZABETH**

He told me I was…different than the others. He had some kind of breakthrough. I’m just glad I let him do the brain surgery. Nothing brings down an evening like being scared you’ll go into an inhuman rage and start eating people. Ha…ha.

**DAN**

This is amazing. He really did it. He can do it.

He can bring her back.

How did he do it? Was there some kind of difference in the formula? Lab conditions?

**ELIZABETH**

Can you give me the third degree after you get someone who’ll sew my hand back on? I was hoping this body would last a few more weeks.

**DAN**

Right, right. I could –

**ELIZABETH**

Reattach all of the nerve endings and revitalize the connective tissue?

**DAN**

…Get Herbert

**HERBERT**

[ENTERING]

No need! We’ve reached a new scientific breakthrough!

**DAN**

You figured out how to fix whatever got us here?

**HERBERT**

Ah, well. About that

**WEST**

Dan. We need to talk

**DAN**

Herbert.

**WEST**

I think we can learn more if we stay here

**DAN**

[SIMULTAENOUSLY]

We need to get back as soon as we can

**WEST**

What?

**CALIGARI**

[ENTERING, IN THAT MANNER SEEMINGLY PARTICULAR TO SCIENTISTS, SILENTLY]

I agree

**HERBERT**

Emily! Nice to see you bright and early. And armed.

**CALIGARI**

West, I don’t know what you were fiddling with in that lab, but you’re going to use it to get rid of these two before you bring Upper Management down on our necks. I’m not losing the blind eye they’ve turned to my work just because you didn’t set parameters on one of your unlicensed experiments.

**DAN**

Look, we’ll be glad to get out of your hair as soon as we can. Just – put the gun down

**WEST**

Dan! This concerns the future of our work. There are resources here we couldn’t dream of accessing back in Arkham. Just THINK -   
  


**DAN**

Herbert, look at her.

**WEST**

I’m not sure what significance an artificial limb has –

**DAN**

It’s REAL. She’s – she was dead, this West brought her back. Do you know what that means?

**WEST**

Yes. Do you? It’s one experiment. If we stay here for a year, even a few months, think of what we could accomplish!

**DAN**

It’s _Meg_ , Herbert.

You promised me you’d help her. You promised those _things_ you were making would mean something. I stayed because I thought you’d actually keep your word for a change. Every second we’re here she could be rotting. We could be losing out chance.

[TO HERBERT]

How did you do it?

**HERBERT**

Much as I would love to brag, the canister was actually Emily’s invention. I just borrowed it for a little applied science.

**DAN**

Where is it now?

**HERBERT**

Somewhere in the unfortunate wreckage of our little scuffle, I’m afraid

**DAN**

So, it’s…..

Is it possible to recreate? The ingredients, could I get them?

**CALIGARI**

If you get out of my hair, I’ll make you a whole shopping list

**DAN**

Deal

**WEST**

_What_?

**DAN**

I have to go back. Whether you decide to come or not.

_[TWO BEATS; THE DECLARATION – ULTIMATUM – HANGS HEAVY IN THE AIR]_

**WEST**

Come back to the lab. I need a tissue sample from you

**HERBERT**

Alright, I’ll be al – and they’ve gone.

**CALIGARI**

Good. This isn’t something we’re prepared to deal with the fallout from. Which you knew when you decommissioned the resonator the first time. Getting rid of the angst is just a bonus.

**HERBERT**

I told you it would work! Just because there might be a teensy risk of radiation fallout-

**ELIZABETH**

When exactly did you build this machine?

**HERBERT**

Aaaaaah. One hundred and seventy eight days ago

**ELIZABETH**

Before the power crisis

**HERBERT**

Yes

**ELIZABETH**

When you swore to me you’d given up science

**HERBERT**

Yes, but Elizabeth –

**ELIZABETH**

I’m not angry, Herbert. Not much. We put that part of our lives behind us. I just want to know what you made something like that _for_.

**HERBERT**

I may have had some…difficulty in adjusting to retirement. I thought, perhaps, if I had another scientist to talk to – not that you aren’t perfectly charming, Emily, but you were rather set on shooting me on sight at the time – it might make things a little easier.

**CALIGARI**

So you thought _you_ would be the perfect option. Of course you did.

**HERBERT**

Who else? I might only have one opportunity before exposure to the side effects proved lethal. And we’d already have so much in common!

**ELIZABETH**

But you didn’t use it

**HERBERT**

No. By the time preparations were finished I found my impulse for creating it had somewhat faded away. I was happy speaking with Andrew and Monty, listening to the birthing cries of the Meatwall. And you, Elizabeth. You never cease to surprise me.

**ELIZABETH**

Oh…

**CALIGARI**

So why use it now? Bigger turnout for Spaghetti Wednesday?

**HERBERT**

An intriguing notion, but no. It simply seemed a shame not to turn it on at least once before dismantling it for good.

**CALIGARI**

And now you’re going to get rid of it

**HERBERT**

Well…

**CALIGARI**

West!

**HERBERT**

He’s such a promising young man, Emily! Think what we could accomplish together, all of us. The _possibilities_

**CALIGARI**

The possibilities are why I’m worried

[SIGH]

But damn, you’re right. It is tempting.

**HERBERT**

We could just – turn it off? Really, it’s been doing quite well as a hat rack. And of course, he might decide to stay.

**CALIGARI**

Ha. And I might wake up tomorrow with a burning desire to become a rigger.

[TO ELIZABETH]

You ended up his keeper. Somehow. I’ll leave it to you.

_[SFX: FREEZERAY]_

But I’m keeping this out until this is over

**HERBERT**

Then it’s settled. Now, you might want to slip into these completely lead-lined suits before we proceed. Elizabeth, I made a smaller one if you’d prefer not to risk deteriorating the parts further.

**ELIZABETH**

That’s thoughtful of you – but I’ll sit this out. I don’t think I want to see how it ends.

**CALIGARI**

Smart woman.

[PAUSE]

West, at least fix that hand before you go.

**HERBERT**

Quite right. Honestly, I’d lose my head if it weren’t for the surgical pins and triple-knotted sutures.

_[SFX: THE SCUFFLE OF FINAL PREPARATIONS]_

**HERBERT**

Everything ready?

**WEST**

The samples should be enough to keep either of our cellular components from being spread across multiple planes. In theory

**HERBERT**

So, you’ve decided.

**WEST**

Yes. I’m sorry to rescind my request so quickly.

**HERBERT**

Quite alright. But you know – Emily may have laid it on a bit thick for effect. You could stay.

**WEST**

I don’t doubt it would be a benefit to me.

Unfortunately, I made a promise.

**NARRATOR**

Our bodies are fragile things. Every policy forges their way in this uncertain life knowing that a carnivorous colony of mold, an ill-timed tunnel collapse, or even an incautious step near our city’s reliable people-movers, might spell an untimely end of our service to Hartlife. Our spirits, therefore, must be strong. Unafraid to devote our forms and functions to the greater good laid out before us. But that strength, infected, warped from its carefully guided purpose, can destroy.

So guard yourself, listeners. Against the petty promises of a better life, or the allure of non-approved personal companions. Save your devotion for that which has always, and will always, protect you. For that watchful eye that feels no jealousy, longing, or blinding, lingering grief. Where the human heart fails, the company endures. And whatever worlds might walk beside our own, know that they will never match the warm, protective embrace of Our Fair City.


End file.
